Sling: We didn’t ‘work’ with AT&T for 3G streaming to iPhone (Updated)

AT&T said that Sling Media changed its iPhone app to be more bandwidth- …

AT&T made headlines Thursday by announcing that it had decided to allow SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone to stream video from a Slingbox over its 3G network. AT&T's CEO claimed in the announcement that Sling Media modified the app to be more efficient on its network, but Sling has responded, saying it didn't have to change much of anything.

"Sling Media was willing to work with us to revise the app to make it more bandwidth sensitive," AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega said in a statement early on Thursday morning. "They made important changes to more efficiently use 3G network bandwidth and conserve wireless spectrum so that we were able to support the app on our 3G mobile broadband network."

AT&T said that it plans to "provide developers with wireless network optimization requirements for video and other applications by the end of the first quarter." AT&T wouldn't comment on what those requirements were, but a spokesperson for Sling Media contacted Ars this afternoon to clarify what the company had changed in the software.

Sling Media's John Santoro told Ars that no fundamental changes were required. "AT&T never discussed any specific requirements with us."

Santoro explained that SlingPlayer Mobile has always contained code to adapt the stream quality to the given network conditions. AT&T has been in discussions with Sling since the app was first released last year, but AT&T never asked the company to make any specific modifications. However, the code has been continually improved, and Sling was able to successfully demonstrate that SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone would not have a negative impact on other wireless customers.

AT&T may have merely been concerned that if SlingPlayer Mobile became popular that it could tax its network—already a problem that customers often complain about. de la Vega recently blamed the problem on a very small percentage of "heavy" users, mostly iPhone users with an appetite for video, audio, and other media. But that hasn't stopped the company from adding numerous data hungry devices, like e-book readers, Android-based smartphones, and even the iPad. Nor has it stopped other apps that stream video over 3G, such as Ustream, from being rejected. The company has announced a number of network upgrades intended to increase overall capacity, so it may have less concerns about SlingPlayer Mobile specifically.

"Whatever the reason, we're just glad AT&T has approved it," Santoro told Ars. "We're just waiting for Apple's OK, now." The revised app has been submitted, but has not yet been approved for the App Store.

UPDATE: Sling Media general manager John Gilmore contacted Ars to clarify the working relationship between Sling and AT&T.

"We actually have been working very intensively with AT&T to get the 3G streaming approved," Gilmore told Ars. "Over the course of the last couple of months, they have been testing the app in their labs."

Gilmore said that AT&T was able to determine that SlingPlayer Mobile wouldn't significantly impact network performance after extensive testing. "We always felt comfortable that that wasn't the case," he told Ars. "As we built our relationship with AT&T, we were able to prove to them that our app wouldn't cause a negative customer impact. We always felt that our app was a 'good network citizen.'"

When asked what code changes AT&T wanted, if any, Gilmore verified that no specific changes were made at AT&T's request. He did say, however, that the 3G streaming code has had some improvements over the course of the last several months due to general code optimization. "We want to make sure that we constantly improve how our app uses network resources."